LONDON—Britain’s centuries-old rules of government have a sacrosanct tradition: Don’t drag the monarch into politics.

Amid the political ferment of Brexit, even this golden rule risks being bent.

Last month, a group of senior politicians from Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government quietly met with Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral Castle in...

MOSCOW—Targeted by police and barred from the ballot in Moscow’s city elections, Russia’s opposition is trying to gain a political foothold in other municipal races Sunday as it rides a rising wave of dissent against President Vladimir Putin.

But to convert a surge in support into a coherent political challenge to Mr. Putin, opposition leaders must first overcome a crackdown against them, and their own internal divisions.

The...

WILMINGTON, N.C.—Hurricane Dorian made landfall along the North Carolina coast early Friday as the region braced for more drenching rain, flash flooding and power outages while the storm worked its way north.

The center of Dorian, a weakened Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds nearing 90 miles an hour, recently moved over Cape Hatteras, N.C., the National Hurricane Center reported. Utilities reported more than 400,000 customers without power in the Carolinas and Virginia, and the hurricane center warned that parts of...

WASHINGTON—Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has abandoned his potential independent bid for president, citing fears among the public that such a candidacy might lead to the re-election of a “uniquely dangerous” president.

The billionaire writes in a letter to supporters Friday that he still intends to devote his fortune to fixing the nation’s “broken” political system. But he warned that if he moved forward with his campaign, “there is a risk that my name would appear on ballots even if a moderate Democrat wins the nomination,...

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia—Russian President Vladimir Putin’s three-day investment forum meant to highlight opportunities in the country’s Far East ended without any clear victories for Moscow or the underdeveloped region that the Kremlin wants to build up as a gateway to Asia.

The lack of any landmark deal at the meeting reflects the Kremlin’s problems in integrating the far-flung region more closely with Moscow, seven time zones away. Its biggest challenge is to build out infrastructure in a territory seen as a key to unlocking...

Walt Disney Co. will allow visitors to Shanghai Disneyland to bring their own food inside the theme park, in a reversal that follows a public outcry over perceived discrimination against Chinese customers.

The theme park will adjust its food policy to allow visitors to bring their own food “provided they are not in containers with reheating capabilities, do not require preparation, and are for self-consumption,” the Shanghai Disney Resort complex, which includes Shanghai Disneyland, said in a statement. Visitors could bring bottled beverages into the park.

Employers added to payrolls at a steady pace and unemployment stayed historically low in August, suggesting the U.S. economy held firm during a month when a deepening global slowdown and faltering manufacturing activity stoked fears of a sharp U.S. slowdown.

The U.S. economy added 130,000 payrolls in August, the Labor Department reported Friday. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7% for the third consecutive month, remaining near its 50-year low.

BEIJING—China’s central bank will unleash roughly 900 billion yuan ($126 billion) into the financial system, in an effort to boost lending as the world’s second-largest economy faces increasing pressure from a trade war with the U.S.

The People’s Bank of China said Friday that it plans to reduce the amount of reserves that commercial banks are required to keep with the central bank by half a percentage point, starting Sept. 16, in a bid to spur lending and economic activity.

Brazil’s Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes SA expects higher fuel costs as the grounding of Boeing Co. ’s 737 MAX forces the airline to rely on less efficient aircraft.

The São Paulo-based company expects to spend 1% more on fuel in the third quarter than planned and 2% more in the fourth quarter, Chief Financial Officer Richard F. Lark said.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will offer his outlook on the economy and interest-rate policy in Zurich on Friday, following a period of increasing trade-policy uncertainty and more disappointing global growth and manufacturing-sector data.

Mr. Powell’s appearance at a question-and-answer session with Thomas Jordan, head of the Swiss National Bank, will be the last opportunity to set expectations for Fed officials’ Sept. 17-18 policy meeting before their customary pre-meeting quiet period begins on Saturday.

WASHINGTON—State attorneys general are formally launching separate antitrust probes into Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google unit starting next week, according to people familiar with the matter, putting added pressure on tech giants already under federal scrutiny.

The Google probe is expected to be announced at a news conference outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, with a bipartisan group of about three dozen state attorneys general joining the effort, the people said.

Fitch Ratings downgraded Hong Kong, saying months of unrest were testing the city’s relationship with mainland China and had dented its reputation as a well-governed, stable place to do business.

The credit ratings company on Friday cut its main rating on Hong Kong by one notch to AA from AA+, saying the turmoil was testing “the perimeters and pliability of the ‘one country, two systems’ framework that governs Hong Kong’s relationship with the mainland”. Fitch said that increasingly close ties would over time imply ratings...

A German investigation into Facebook Inc. shows that multinational companies could face probes from multiple data-protection regulators in Europe over the same missteps.

The data-protection regulator in Hamburg is looking into whether Facebook violated the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation by transcribing the Facebook Messenger voice messages of five users in Germany this summer without their knowledge.

A...

Retailer Lululemon Athletica Inc. boosted estimates for revenue and earnings for the fiscal year.

The company said it now expects between $3.8 billion and $3.84 billion in net revenue. It was expecting between $3.73 billion and $3.77 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet are expecting $3.81 billion.

Robert Mugabe, a schoolteacher-turned-guerrilla fighter who helped topple white colonial rule in Zimbabwe only to lead the country to the brink of economic ruin, has died.

Mr. Mugabe died after years of declining health that saw him make frequent trips for medical treatment in Asia and less than two years after a bloodless coup ended his 37-year rule over the southern African country. He was 95 years old.

“It...

The Trump administration is pressing regulators to accelerate the rollout of new tailpipe-emission rules, an attempt to strike back at California for cutting a side deal with several auto makers to set standards that are tougher than those proposed by the administration, according to people familiar with the White House’s plans.

As part of that effort, officials could move within the next few days to curb California’s influence on the car industry, say these people and others familiar with the administration’s thinking. That...

WASHINGTON—President Trump met with Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin at the White House on Thursday to discuss a policy response to mass shootings that have killed dozens of people over the past several weeks, three people familiar with the matter said.

The 30-minute private meeting, which included several White House staffers, touched on a range of possible gun-related policy issues including background checks, the people said. Mr. Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, and Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) have long urged legislation expanding...

Iran said Thursday it would abandon constraints on nuclear research set out in the 2015 nuclear deal, in another violation of the accord that raises the risk of its collapse as Europe pursues efforts to salvage it with sanctions relief for Tehran.

Iran’s move comes after the Trump administration appeared to dismiss efforts led by France to throw Tehran a possible $15 billion economic lifeline in return for its full compliance with the nuclear accord.

Italian police arrested a top executive of Russia’s state-owned aircraft-engine maker on U.S. charges that he tried to steal aviation secrets, the Justice Department said Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the arrest as “bad practice” and said it could complicate relations with the U.S., which he noted uses Russian raw materials for its own aviation industry.

“Boeings...

OAKLAND, Calif.—A jury acquitted one man and wasn’t able to reach a verdict on another accused of involuntary manslaughter for the 2016 warehouse fire here that took the lives of 36 people.

The jury didn’t reach a verdict on Derick Ion Almena, the property’s main leaseholder, and acquitted Max Harris, a tenant, on 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter for allegedly creating a fire trap with inadequate means of escape at the unauthorized living space and underground concert venue known as Ghost Ship. They could have faced 39...

WASHINGTON—The Trump administration said it would support returning mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to private hands, a development that could keep the companies at the center of the housing market for decades to come.

The principles announced Thursday represent a major reversal from what leaders of both parties over the past decade promised—to abolish the companies, which guarantee roughly half the U.S. mortgage market. The approach, which doesn’t require approval by Congress, would mark an important win...

WASHINGTON—President Trump’s lead negotiator on his highly anticipated Arab-Israeli peace plan will be leaving the White House soon, throwing further into question the administration’s efforts to resolve the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Jason Greenblatt, who formerly served as the Trump Organization’s chief legal officer, had originally committed to serving for two years but extended his stay as the plan hit several delays, including political uncertainties in Israel.

Michigan State University must pay a record $4.5 million fine to the U.S. Education Department for violating federal crime-reporting guidelines and failing to protect students in relation to sex abuse by former sports-medicine doctor Larry Nassar.

The settlement resolves a Clery Act review that found the school repeatedly failed to act to address complaints against Nassar, subjecting students to a sexually hostile environment. The university also must implement a corrective action plan, including hiring a Clery compliance...

More than two dozen public schools placed in this year’s top 100 of the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings, with 10 public schools making the top 50. These schools ranked highly in providing desired outcomes for graduates, despite lacking the resources of many private schools.

The University of California, Los Angeles tops the chart for public schools and ranks No. 25 overall. In the rankings, UCLA placed highly in the environment and engagement categories, fifth and 11th, respectively, among all...